On
the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony
Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes
and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country
house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie
Turner, a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister,
has recently graduated from Cambridge. By the end of that
day the lives of all three will have been changed forever.
Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never
before dared to approach and will have become victims of the
younger girl's scheming imagination, and Briony will have
committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will colour
her entire life.

Movie Review:

Atonement, a story of misunderstandings and misappropriations,
is a sumptuously
filmed period drama reminiscent of old Merchant Ivory productions.
At its heart, it is a typically restrained English drama,
all meaningful glances and smouldering looks. The staging
feels like a play, and is stylized to the point of being dream-like.

Atonement is also a movie in two parts, with the former taking
place on the hottest day of the year in 1935. With everything
lit in a sort of medium glow sunlight, you can almost feel
the heat radiating off the screen. Unfortunately, the forced
chemistry between James McAvoy and Keira Knightley as the
star-crossed lovers Robbie and Cecilia makes for insufficient
heat, though they certainly look good together. Made up like
old-time movie stars, just putting them together in costume
recalls a bygone era. But McAvoy, in a standout performance,
far outshines Knightley, who seems to have trouble deciding
what makes for a posh accent. It is quite an indictment that
the accent of McAvoy, who is a Scot, sounds far more polished
than hers.

Ultimately, the couple become victims of Cecilia’s sister,
the poor, precocious Briony (newcomer Saoirse Ronan), who
has the habit of walking into situations at the worst possible
moment. While she claims to have “the clarity of passion”,
her imaginary world becomes the catalyst for a tragic turn
of events. Given that Atonement is adapted from Ian McEwan’s
novel, and Briony herself is an aspiring writer, it could
aptly be said that the movie is all about words. The initial
lack of words between Robbie and Cecilia, the words of the
letter that Robbie mistakenly gives to her and most tragically,
the damning words of the false accusation that Briony makes
against Robbie (for a terrible crime whose name is never even
spoken), destined to cast a shadow over his good name forever.
And in the final revelation, we see just how much words mean
to the movie.

And so we come to the second part of the film, with its sudden
transition to WWII. The change is deliberately jarring, echoing
the manner in which Cecilia and Robbie’s romance is
so abruptly shattered. Cecilia’s last words to Robbie
before he goes off to war become a constant refrain: “I
love you. Come back to me”. It’s appropriate then
that Robbie should find himself at Dunkirk, scene of what
is probably the most humiliating British military retreat
ever. Director Joe Wright manages a visual tour de force in
the stunning scenes at the beaches of Dunkirk, that must be
seen to be believed. In particular, the number of extras and
props involved in one long, continous tracking shot must have
taken up all of Wright’s ingenuity and innovation. Even
at Dunkirk, Robbie’s promise to Cecilia haunts the narrative,
for it is all the couple have left: “I will find you,
love you, marry you and live without shame.”

We also flit back and forth to the hospital with a grown-up
Briony (Romolo Garai), who has volunteered as a nurse in what
becomes her lifelong attempt at atonement. Her scenes with
wounded and dying soldiers are especially harrowing, with
a heartbreaking scene between her and a dying French soldier
a standout. Even there, she never stops writing, and the clackety-clack
of Briony’s typewriter becomes the basis for an inspired
soundtrack. It is masterfully used to convey urgency and foreboding
throughout the film, and almost gives the impression of a
story being made up on the spot. In the end, Robbie commands
Briony to write a truthful account of what happened that day
in 1935, with “no rhymes, no embellishments, no adjectives”.
And while Briony’s repentance is never quite properly
explained, the final significance of Robbie’s words
become clear at the end.

Movie Rating:

(Definitely
worthy of the Oscar buzz. A slow burn movie, but ultimately
rewarding)